RIM reported this morning that BlackBerry services are running normally once again around the world, with the exception of small delays for customers in Canada and Latin America who send messages to other regions

On Monday, October 10, BlackBerry customers from Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa started experiencing troubles with their services such as messaging and browsing delays.

RIM has not commented on how many have been affected, but there are about 70 million BlackBerry users worldwide. Several users went to Twitter and other social networks to vent about their lengthy loss of service and delays.

"#DearBlackberry I can't work, I can't study, please, please come back from that coma!" tweeted @marianaae.

Now, RIM founder and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis has released an apology on RIM's website saying that it has been his goal to provide a reliable communications network, but "did not deliver on that goal this week."

In addition to an apology video, RIM Chief Information Officer Robin Bienfait released an apology yesterday evening as well.

To All BlackBerry Customers:

I want to first apologize for the service interruptions and delays many of you have been experiencing this week. I also wanted to connect with you directly, give you an update on the service issues we are trying to solve, and answer some of the questions and concerns you’ve expressed.
You’ve depended on us for reliable, real-time communications, and right now we’re letting you down. We are taking this very seriously and have people around the world working around the clock to address this situation. We believe we understand why this happened and we are working to restore normal service levels in all markets as quickly as we can.

Here is the current status of service and issues for the various regions that were impacted:

For Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA):

Email systems are operating and we are continuing to clear any backlogged messages. Support teams are working to minimize the impact on our customers.
BBM traffic is online and traffic is passing successfully.
Browsing is temporarily unavailable as the Support teams monitor service stability and continue to assess when this service can be safely brought online.
Support teams have added capacity to help with message delivery between regions and continents.

For Canada and Latin America:
Email systems are operating and we are continuing to clear any backlogged messages. Support teams are working to minimize the impact on our customers.
BBM and browsing services are online and traffic is passing successfully (except for three carrier networks in Latin America that are serviced by the EMEIA infrastructure – browsing is temporarily unavailable for those three carrier networks).
Support teams are investigating reports of BBM delays.

For the U.S.:
Email systems are operating and we are continuing to clear any backlogged messages. Support teams are working to minimize the impact on our customers.
Support teams have added capacity to help with message delivery between regions and continents.
BBM and browsing services are online and traffic is passing successfully.
Support teams are investigating reports of BBM delays.

We will provide regular updates on BlackBerry.com, RIM.com and via our social channels. We are doing everything in our power to restore regular service everywhere and to restore your trust in us.

Yours sincerely,
Robin Bienfait
Chief Information Officer, RIM

RIM reported this morning that BlackBerry services are running normally once again around the world, with the exception of small delays for customers in Canada and Latin America who send messages to other regions. Nevertheless, support teams are keeping a close eye on the situation to make sure that services remain stable.

In addition to the outage, RIM has had other troubles on its hands, such as Canadian merchant bank Jaguar calling for a replacement for Lazaridis and co-CEO Balsillie and the sale of RIM's intellectual property. This response from Jaguar comes after lukewarm BlackBerry PlayBook tablet reception, bleak quarterly results, and RIM's inability to keep up with mobile giants like Apple and Google.

"but but but, RIM is headed by a little green aliens from another dimension and hence has NOTHING in common with all the other Earth businesses, so RIM deserves their OWN SPECIAL STANDARD for treatment"

This is pointless, we have both said our piece again and again and disagree. I think RIM is headed downhill fast, and you think they are OK. There is nothing left to do but see what happens, so let’s do that bet, or are you afraid? It’s not for any money, just for "I told you so" rights.The bet: By October next year, there won’t be any way to hide behind creative data reporting and "pick and choose" facts. RIM’s numbers will be down all over, sales, marketshare, everything everywhere and it will be undeniable.